Page 141 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

He chuckled. “Sure, man. Whatever you need. Think I’ve got something you might be interested in.”

And as he led me to an SUV sitting across the lot, I tried to ignore the shame nipping at my heels, telling me I was nothing but a liar and a traitor.

TWENTY-SEVEN

THEO

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD

“I guessI thought I was different. I thought I was going to come to LA and show up at an audition and I was going to be discovered the first day.” Scarlett quietly murmured the words into the darkness of Theo’s room where she was tucked beside him.

She’d been there for almost a week. Slowly healing. Each night creeping into Theo’s room and curling up at his side.

He knew it made her feel safe, so he didn’t mind.

The smile that pulled to his face was regretful. “Yeah. I imagine that’s what most everyone thinks. You don’t realize it’s the most corrupt, depraved place, and before you know it, you’ve been devoured.”

Whether by the streets or your competition. The ruthless industry or the dumps that cost a fortune that you ended up not being able to afford in the end. It all made surviving here nearly impossible. Only the luckiest few ever got that break.

Scarlett nodded against his shoulder. “Yeah. The first couple months, I was so determined. I researched and studied, and I thought I knew exactly what to say to get me through the door, and all I ever got were those doors slammed in my face. And my parents…they warned me if I went…if I didn’t go to collegethe way they expected me to, I wasn’t welcome to come crawling back.”

She trailed off, sorrow winding into her words.

Theo’s spirit thrashed.

He knew exactly what it was like to be rejected by your parents. Going hungry. Sleeping on fuckin’ concrete because you weren’t the person they expected you to be.

He’d never been. It wasn’t like it was a surprise to him.

But when it came to someone like Scarlett…

“Fuckin’ sorry. You don’t deserve that. You deserve to explore and fail and figure out who you’re really meant to be. You should be allowed to chase a dream without being condemned for it.”

Her chest trembled. “I hoped they would see it that way, but they told me it was a lesson I had to learn, and I had to figure it out myself.” She choked a self-deprecating sound. “It didn’t turn out so great.”

His guts twisted and his arm tightened around her. At least he’d had the pleasure of hunting down that monster Jimmy who hurt her. Theo had a smile on his face when he put him in the ground.

“Until I met the most amazing man in the worst of places.” Scarlett’s voice tremored through the shadows of his room, whispered at his chest.

“I’m glad I could help you. We’re gonna figure out a place for you to stay that’s safe?—”

He broke off when she suddenly moved to straddle him. Air locked in his lungs, and his hands shot to her waist to stop her. “Scarlett, this isn’t?—”

Her brown eyes were giant in the night. Filled with trust and a longing he should have recognized before then. “Please, Theo.”

His own eyes pinched closed. Something in his guts warned that this was all wrong. Him helping her hadn’t been about this.

He loved to fuck. What man didn’t? But he always kept it to the Owl bunnies who knew the score when it came to riding his dick. He didn’t have the time nor the heart for anything more than that.

And Scarlett deservedmore.

“Think you’re confusing your relief at my helping you with something else, Scar.”

“I’m not, Theo. I’m not. I know what I feel.”

Except, Theo didn’t think he felt the same thing. Wasn’t sure hecouldfeel what she was asking him to.

But he did feel something.